Happy Birthday
by Neko-Salosa
Summary: Ryoma's cousin wants something special for her birthday. Ryoma isn't quite so willing to comply, since he doesn't like to sing, or does he? One shot.


Ryoma's cousin's birthday was coming up and she was following Ryoma around the house trying to get him to tell her what she wanted for her birthday by dropping very subtle hints at him.

"Come on! There's a public vocal studio opening at the mall. You have the most beautiful voice, I don't know why you don't sing more," she said one morning before school.

"Because I like tennis and I don't like singing," Ryoma said in his normal monotone voice.

"Now that's not true, I hear you singing in the bathtub all the time," she winked at him.

Nanjiroh looked at him from his newspaper with nothing but torture in mind. "Oh? Really? I had no idea you liked to sing, she's right, why don't you give up tennis? It's not like you'll ever amount to anything anyway."

Ryoma's mom and cousin immediately rounded on him while Ryoma ate his western style breakfast. "Don't say that to him!" his mom said.

Ryoma wished for the ability to disappear while he munched on his dry toast. There even was a faint hint of red on his cheeks but only enough that Ryoma knew he was blushing.

His cousin returned to her cooking, "Well, I was just putting the idea out there," she said.

Ryoma was saved from an answer by the ringing of a bike bell outside his house. "That's Momo, I'm off to school," he said getting away from his family as quickly as he could.

He grabbed his backpack and ran out the door making sure Karupin stayed inside. "Hey Momo," he called.

"Hey, you ready?" he asked.

Ryoma grabbed on the back of his jacket and let the momentum of the bike pull him on. "I guess," he said.

"You know, it's amazing that you're a tennis prodigy yet you are almost never 'ready' or practice," he said.

Ryoma shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever," he said.

Ryoma and Momo ran into practice two minutes late and were immediately given ten laps for each minute they were late by Tezuka.

They huffed along as everyone else started their morning exercises, "So, anything new lately?" Momo asked.

Ryoma shook his head and paced his breath trying to ignore Momo.

"Oh? Isn't your cousin's birthday coming up?" he asked.

Ryoma lost count of his breaths and looked at Momo, "How did you know that?" he asked.

"I know everything," Momo winked.

Ryoma decided to ignore him again, but then he brought up another point of interest, "Did you know a public voice studio is opening today at the mall?" Momo asked.

Ryoma looked at him strangely, "Are you spying on me Momo?"

Momo looked surprised and a little weirded out, "No! I just thought you liked to sing."

"What gave you that idea?" Ryoma asked, turning his attention back on the path he was running around the tennis courts.

"Because I hear you singing in the shower room all the time. Did you know you have a pretty good voice?" Momo asked.

Ryoma didn't answer and ran ahead, lapping Momo in a matter of minutes. "Guess that was the wrong thing to say," Momo said to himself.

Ryoma was in the middle of a practice match with Eiji and beating him badly. Eiji had tried to use some of his acrobatic tricks on Ryoma but noting seemed to throw his concentration that day. After Ryoma had defeated him 3 games to 6 Fuji came over with his quiet smile. "Are you upset today?" he asked in his quiet voice.

Ryoma adjusted his cap and looked down, "No, I'm fine."

"Okay, just making sure," Fuji said.

Eiji came over panting and huffing like he had just run a marathon, "Wow ochibi! What a match, care to go a little easier next time?" he laughed.

Ryoma looked up at him with no expression except possibly boredom in his eyes, "Okay, next time."

As Ryoma walked away Eiji crossed his arms, "Ochibi isn't very happy today," he observed.

Momo laughed and clapped Eiji on the shoulder, "Is he ever happy?" he joked.

Oishi looked concerned, "Is he not feeling well?" he asked.

Momo shook his head, "No, I mentioned the public studio opening and he got all defensive. He's been like that all day."

They watched Ryoma pack his bag and walk out of the school grounds, "Should we follow?" asked Momo.

"No, that's an invasion of privacy!" said Oishi.

"But what if he is sick and collapses on the way home?" asked Eiji.

"Well…" Oishi said.

That was all the opening Eiji needed and glomped onto his friend. "Okay! Today is operation "Follow ochibi!" he yelled.

Oishi sighed, "I have a bad feeling about this," he said.

Eiji managed to get all the regulars except Tezuka to come on the little spy mission and soon they were following the unknowing freshman down the street. Several times Ryoma turned around to see nothing but air behind him.

They followed him into the mall and into the public studio. "I knew it!" said Momo.

"Shhh!" everyone covered his mouth, lest they be discovered.

"Okay, would you like this to be played publicly after you're done?" asked the girl behind the counter.

"No thanks," said Ryoma.

"Are you sure, it will be played over the speakers and no one will know who you are," she said, motioning to the speakers above them.

"I said, no thanks," said Ryoma.

The girl looked a little put out, "O-okay, well come this way then."

She showed Ryoma into a booth where he waited for the signal to start singing over the karaoke track he had provided her. It was a song that was popular in America that he had translated into Japanese so no one would have ever heard of it, in case it got into the wrong hands. And also so his cousin would be the only one to ever get it.

He began singing and soon the Seigaku regulars had lined up by the booth and could hear the song that was being sung. Ryoma was oblivious to everything but remembering the right words to the song.

"Look at ochibi go! He's actually showing emotion!" Eiji cheered.

He was, Ryoma was into the music and very much enjoying himself. He didn't realize that all his friends were outside listening in.

Momo whistled and elbowed Kaidoh, "Wow, he does have a good voice!" he said.

Kaidoh would never show it but he was indeed impressed with how good Ryoma's voice sounded. "He's better at tennis," he said.

"I don't know about that," said Kuwabara in his normal soft tone. "What do you think Inui?" he looked at the bespecled data taker.

Inui was scribbling furiously in his notebook and not listening to anyone.

Everyone looked at him and sweatdropped, Ryoma was blissfully oblivious to everyone and started to sing another song that was a little more popular that he knew his cousin liked called "Glory Days."

Fuji smiled and opened his eyes. "I think I'll try this too," he said.

Eiji nodded and grabbed Momo and Kuwabara in a choke hold, "Sounds like fun! You guys wanna try?" he asked.

His two captives laughed nervously and tried to escape, but Eiji pulled Kuwabara's racket out of his equipment bag and handed it to him.

"BURNING! Let's DO IT!" he yelled waving the racket around and grabbing Kaidoh and Oishi.

Eiji grabbed the remaining Inui and Momo and pulled them into another recording booth.

Ryoma returned home that night none the wiser of his friend's little adventures and wrapped the CD in birthday paper and wrote her a card that said, 'I will never do this again so take care of it," and slid the present where she would find it long after he had gone to school.

The next morning just to make sure he didn't have to listen to his voice he grabbed an extra rice ball out of the cupboard and ran out before his cousin could catch him.

He ran into the practice courts before anyone but Tezuka was there. "Morning," he said in greeting and started to practice against the wall.

Tezuka nodded his greeting and followed Ryoma in suit.

They continued in that fashion for a good half hour before anyone else showed up, then Momo came in. "Ryoma, there you are! I went to pick you up and your cousin said you left!" he said wheeling his bike in the bike rack.

Ryoma shook his head and continued to practice.

"Have fun at the mall yesterday?" he asked.

Ryoma missed the sweet spot on his racket and the ball spiraled out of control into Momo's face.

Momo dodged barely and said, "Hey! I was just asking if you had fun, we saw you singing and had some fun ourselves," he said.

Ryoma turned to face his friend and decided then and there that the next match they had would be a very painful one.

Momo held up a CD, "And the nice girl behind the counter even let me borrow a copy of your CD."

Very, very, excruciatingly painful.

"You know, you really do have a great voice," Momo said, winking at Ryoma.

Ryoma ran over to Momo and tried to get the CD. But Momo's considerable height difference allowed him to keep the CD out of his grasp with ease.

Tezuka continued to hit his tennis ball against the brick without betraying any emotion on his face.

"Momo, I never gave you permission to get that," Ryoma said.

"Ah, but I bought it with my own money! So, really I can do whatever I want with this. I also happen to have friends who know how to hack into the PA system."

Ryoma glared at him, "You wouldn't dare."

Momo laughed and patted Ryoma on the head like he was a little kid, "No, I just wanted to see the expression on your face when I told you that. And what an expression!" he laughed.

Later on practice started and Ryoma got his fair share of revenge on Momo. Tezuka was nice enough to pair them up in a match against each other and Momo got to sit through his classes with a rather large bruise on the underside of his chin from Ryoma's serve.

Eiji came up to him after school and laughed, "Next time don't tell ochibi before practice."

Momo fingered his chin, "Yeah, I figured that."

After school Ryoma went home and dreaded hearing his voice but heard blissful silence as he went into his house. He looked around for his cousin but instead found a note that said, "Thank you for the gift, I'll see you in a few hours, I took your father shopping."

Ryoma smiled and folded up the note. Then he filled up the bathtub and put in his favorite bath salts and relaxed.

"Happy Birthday Nanako," Ryoma's voice said at the end of the CD.

Nanako smiled as she listened to the CD in her walkman and blissfully ignored her Uncle's complaints as she grocery shopped. It was a very good birthday for her, very good indeed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I have no idea if anyone had ever heard Ryoma's vocal singles, but his voice is AWESOME. And he/(his seiuu) convey's alot more emotion when he sings. So I was listening and thought of a cute one shot. Hope you enjoyed and I'm sorry if I got some names mixed up.


End file.
